(Article) Surviving Repressions

Surviving Repressions

by Andrew A. Estacio First published in the first issue of UPLB Perspective ’14-‘15 Once again, students of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) triumphed their battle to standardize and maintain their tuition fee at low cost. The proposed tuition hike was deferred by the PUP Board of Regents on July 2.

“Sa 109 na taon ng PUP, pinatunayan nito ang lakas at kayang likhain ng sama-samang pagkilos,” said Charley L. Urquiza, co-president of Alyansa ng Nagkakaisang Konseho PUP (ANAK-PUP) and president of PUP Central Student Council.

PUP Students rallied to the main office of Commission on Higher Education where the BOR meeting was held. On July 1, prior the deferment, students walked out of their classes, raised their placards and yelled their rage on the Aquino administration for its negligence on providing the people accessible, quality education.

The resolution which inflamed anger of students, entitled Proposed Standard Tuition and Miscellaneous Fees for Locally-Funded PUP Campuses, would increase tuition at 830 percent or P100 per unit except the Bansud and Biñan campuses. Still, more than 70,000 students would be greatly affected. The PUP executive committee approved the said proposal and was to be endorsed by the BOR on June 20. However, it was postponed to July 2 due to heated student demonstrations. Fortunately, the postponement has become forever.

“If the proposed standardization of tuition and miscellaneous fees in local campuses will be implemented, sons and daughters of farmers and workers will once again be robbed of their dream to attain higher education,” spokeswoman of Ugnayan ng Mag-aaral Laban sa Komersiyalisasyon-PUP (UMAKSYON-PUP) Jess Ferrera said in a Bulatlat.com report.

Urquiza told Perspective that PUP students are still awash of exorbitant fees: P250 for student information system, P150 for sports development fee, P35 for insurance fee. He claims that these expenses must not come from students themselves.

“Pinipilit naming mabuhay, pero hanggang ganun lang, survival. Nakita naman ninyo ang status ng PUP, siguro it can be much better pa kung tuluyang mabibigay yung budget,” Marissa J. Legaspi, CPA Vice President for Finance, lamented in her interview with GMA News.

Root of Nuisance

PUP was given only P979.257 M subsidy, far from their 2-billion budget proposal. Pres.

Benigno Aquino III’s scheme, Roadmap to Public Higher Education Reform (RPHER), has allegedly caused insufficient funding for PUP and other state universities and colleges (SUCs).

RPHER’s objective is to “rationalize higher education, improve its internal and external efficiency, optimize resources utilization and maximize resource generation.” The budget allocation will be based on the SUCs performance, enrolment and passing rates.

Priority budget will be allocated to SUCs offering courses in line with the government’s priority growth sectors such as agriculture and fisheries, tourism, business process outsourcing and emerging industries such as electronics, semi-conductor and construction industries.

If a SUC did not meet the quality indicators demanded by the government, lower budget would be allocated to it. However, the system did not even consider insufficiency of budget as factor for a poor performance rating of some SUCs. In reality, the reduction of university subsidies adds peril to education. Due to this case, universities impose skyrocketed fees in order to recompense the government’s lackluster support.

In essence, education is becoming limited especially to the poor. RPHER merely targets privatization and commercialization of education.

“Sa ilalim ng apat na taon ni Noynoy, kailanman nakita natin na walang s’yang balak pagtuunan ng pansin ang mga kabataan at edukasyon,” Urquiza exclaimed.

RPHER is a neo-liberal policy Pres. Noynoy patterned from US, IMF, and World Bank. With the rhetoric of global competitiveness, the administration is concerned on producing “semiskilled, high school or technically educated workers” who could work abroad and be paid cheaply. The administration does not envision on producing intellectual, highly skilled workers for the development of the nation. Aquino government has been a puppet to foreign dictates of US, Sarah Elago, national president of the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) said in Bulatlat.com.

A Call to Revolution SUCs have been enslaved by repressive policies of the administration. This is seen through unjust tuition schemes, tuition hike, budget cut, privatization, commercialization and many issues that diminish the attainability of education for all. University of the Philippines, for instance, is in height of fighting against a tuition scheme (STS), putting no end to the expensiveness of education. Consequently, clamors emerged due to its unjust system.

With all the problems of the education sector, still, light could come out through collective action, and having been victorious against the malevolent attempts of the administration, PUP

has proved the power of revolution. “Ang lakas ng malawak na hanay ng masa (estudyante) ay dapat na mahigpit nating katuwang upang labanan ang ano mang banta sa paglabag sa karapatan,” Urquiza said.

PUP students have always won the struggle for the 12 peso per unit tuition. According to Urquiza, the last time tuition hiked was on 1979, from P11/unit to P12/unit which stayed up to present. Attempts to escalate the cost of education happened in 2007 with P75/unit, P250/unit in 2010, and the recent P100/unit.

Urquiza added in his interview with Perspective issues faced by different sectors,“malinaw na hindi lamang sa edukasyon tumatagos ang pagiging tuta, pahirap at pagiging inutil ni Noynoy Aquino… [talamak] ang pagtaas ng mga bilihin, privatization ng mga public utilities, kapabayaan sa mga biktima ng kalimidad.”

He mentioned that corruption is exacerbated under the current government, given the P10 billion ill-gotten wealth of Napoles, the illicit procurement of P300+ billion DAP and the unliquidated P1.3 trillion pork barrel of President Noynoy. “Malinaw sa atin, ang gobyerno ni Noynoy ay may pondo para sa kurapsyon at wala sa edukasyon,” he said “Nararapat lamang na magkaisa ang mga kabataan upang manawagan ng mas mataas na budget sa edukasyon at social services, pagpapanagot sa lahat ng sangkot sa kurapsyon, at sa tuluyan na pagpapatalsik sa isang kurap, pahirap at tutang pangulong si Noynoy Aquino,” Urquiza said.

PUP is one of hundreds of SUCs being repressed by the administration. Yet, they were able to prove how forceful their voices are to surpass the hitches brought by the counterfeit roadmap of the government. But the struggle has yet to end. As education and other social services are gradually fading to the people, their voices will be more powerful. Revolution will free them from the dwindling system [P].